This adult female elk stood out like a sore thumb in the rest of the elk herd but obviously she has survived despite this variation in colour, although she was slightly thinner than the rest of the herd as evident by her prominent spine. Sometimes white discolouration of animals can be caused by parasites, disease or wounds but these problems usually only effect a small portion of the fur. This elk didn’t appear to have any of those and therefore the most likely cause is genetic. If you search the web there are numerous pictures of white elk and piebald deer but it appears calico or piebald elk are not that common and I have yet to see another photograph of one. Please share if you have!
I was walking along a path in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge when I heard lots of rustling behind where I had just come from. I turned back and saw a black snake flopping around on the ground and then all of a sudden it stopped. I raced back with my camera and started taking pictures. It wasn’t until I got close enough that I realized this black racer had ambushed a juvenile copperhead (venomous) and was in the process of eating it! The only way this snake would be able to eat the venomous copperhead without dying is if it managed to get the head into it’s mouth before the snake could bite it, and then suffocate it to death which must have been what the initial rustling was. The next few photos are of the racer consuming the copperhead, an event that to my knowledge has never been documented or photographed before!
After less than 30 seconds, the black racer elevated the front part of it’s body off the ground and slithered into the bushes with the copperhead firmly grasped in the mouth and two thirds of the body dangling alongside the racer.
I took this photo just after the snkae had finished off the copperhead. No doubt it was going to need to rest and digest for awhile.
Owen Slater Photography 